The Indianapolis Radio Club Newsletter Founded 1914 “The oldest continuously operating Amateur Radio Club in the United States” December 2009 Newsletter Upcoming Meetings: January 8, 2010: Signal Propagation talk, plus annual chili cook-off. February: TBA March 12: Software Defined Radio developments. April 9: Homebrew night, with kit building. Highlights from the December Meeting: This meeting, being the annual Christmas dinner, was held at the MCL Cafeteria - 86th and Township Line Road. There were 56 people present. Each paid-up member of IRC received a $10 meal voucher. The meeting was called to order at 7:10 pm, after dinner was enjoyed by those present. A recap of last year's meetings and topics started off the meeting. It was announced that the club is operating in budget. The club would like to attract more members, as well as some younger members. The evening's speaker was introduced. K9SG, Gary Stouder and his wife showed slides and spoke of their trips to China between 2005 - 2009. Their daughter lives in Hunan province and runs a school to teach children English. Gary also had some photos of Arecibo Observatory and DXpedition to Desecheo Island. Next the Awards were presented. The recipients were as follows: Technical Award - Mark Sercer, WA9FDO Oldest Ham - Bob Osterhous, W9PSE Amateur of the Year - to be handed out at the January meeting The door prizes were distributed, with the major prize winners being John Wampner, K9GZR, winning the FT60 R radio, and Frank Hughes, KC9LET, winning the tickets to an upcoming Indianapolis Symphony concert. Hats and various unidentified prizes given away. The meeting was adjourned at 8:40 pm. (Editor's note: Many thanks to KC Corbin, KC9MTL, and Sam Carter, WA9VBG, for reporting on the dinner in my absence.) Ham Radio News: AMATEUR RADIO BILL PASSES SENATE, MOVES TO THE HOUSE On Monday, December 14, S 1755 -- The Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Enhancement Act of 2009 -- passed the Senate by unanimous consent; the bill now goes to the House of Representatives for consideration. Sponsored by Senator Joe Lieberman (ID-CT), and Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), S 1755, if passed, would direct the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to undertake a study on emergency communications. S 1755 points out that "There is a strong Federal interest in the effective performance of Amateur Radio Service stations, and that performance must be given -- (A) support at all levels of government; and (B) protection against unreasonable regulation and impediments to the provision of the valuable communications provided by such stations." Similar in language to HR 2160 (also called The Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Enhancement Act of 2009 that was introduced this past April by Representative Sheila Jackson-Lee [D-TX-18]), S 1755 calls on DHS to undertake a study on the uses and capabilities of Amateur Radio Service communications in emergencies and disaster relief and then to submit a report to Congress no more than 180 days after the bill becomes law. The study shall: Include a review of the importance of Amateur Radio emergency communications in furtherance of homeland security missions relating to disasters, severe weather and other threats to lives and property in the United States, as well as recommendations for enhancements in the voluntary deployment of Amateur Radio licensees in disaster and emergency communications and disaster relief efforts and improved integration of Amateur Radio operators in planning and furtherance of the Department of Homeland Security initiatives. Identify impediments to enhanced Amateur Radio Service communications, such as the effects of unreasonable or unnecessary private land use regulations on residential antenna installations; and make recommendations regarding such impediments for consideration by other federal departments, agencies and Congress. For additional information, point your browser to http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/12/15/11247/?nc=1 CLASSES STARTING IN HENDRICKS COUNTY Beginning on Wednesday, January 27, there will be Amateur Radio Classes in Hendricks County, at the Senior Services Center just north of Hendricks Regional Health in Danville. Classes meet from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm, and will be available for Technician through Extra class licenses. Classes will meet for 8 or 9 weeks, with testing either on the last class meeting, or the Saturday following the last class. Contact Dr. Jay Wright, KK9L, with any questions. SOLAR CYCLE 24 NEWS Sunspots 1036 and 1037 have been numbered. A small new sunspot group has formed in the southern hemisphere of the sun on Saturday morning, December 19. There is also the eastern limb region which appears to have also formed a few tine spots. Sunspot 1035 produced a few C-Class solar flares, the biggest of which was a C7.6 event on Friday afternoon. This is now the largest X-Ray enhancement of Cycle 24 up until this update. There will continue to be a chance for an isolated C-Class flare. (Above taken from http://solarcycle24.com/, by VE3EN) PLUG IN HYBRID VEHICLE SEMINAR Coming up on Tuesday, January 12, will be a free seminar on Plug in Hybrid Vehicles. The seminar starts at 6:30 pm, and will be held at the IPL Safety room at 1230 Morris Street, Indianapolis. Plug-In Hybrid Vehicles (PHEV) can run on either battery or liquid fuels, and can be recharged by directly from the grid. These vehicles have significantly better fuel economy than current models, and could be used in the future as electricity storage devices (the car charges a night when power use is low, but can be discharged during the day during peak usage). Indianapolis Power and Light and IUPUI have been involved in the development and application of PHEV. This seminar will cover what IPL is doing in the field, how it will affect the grid, plus technical details on how the PHEVs operate. Planned speakers include: Mr. Mike Dvorak, Director, Special Projects, Indianapolis Power & Light Dr. Sohel Anwar, Associate Professor, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering; IUPUI For more information, point your browser to http://www.cis-ieee.org/event.asp?eid=106 FEEL FREE TO SHARE OUR NEWSLETTER If you belong to any other radio groups, please feel free to share our newsletter with them. They can also sign up to be on our mailing list by filling out the form available at http://www.indyradioclub.org/rqstnewsletter.htm. SEND ME YOUR HAM RADIO NEWS If anyone has any items for the newsletter, please send them to Ken Bandy at kj9b@arrl.net Signals from the Past: >From the October-November, 1952 Amachewer: W9DPL, Howard Severeid reports several nice openings on the new 15 meter band. He has worked South Africa, Beunos Aires and New Zealand during daylight hours one after the other. No other signals of local origin except Harry Butler, W9OVF have been logged on 15 by Howard yet. Upcoming Area Radio Events: * February 27: Cabin Fever Hamfest, 7 am to 1 pm at the LaPorte Civic Auditorium, 1001 Ridge St., LaPorte, IN 2010 Officers: · President: Ron Cooper, WB9DKL - ..EMAIL wb9dkl@sbcglobal.net · Vice Pres.: Dave Miller, K9RTT - ..EMAIL dmiller@ivytech.edu · Secretary: Ken Bandy, KJ9B - ..EMAIL kj9b@arrl.net · Treasurer: Jay Willever, K9LJW - ..EMAIL k9ljw@arrl.net · Chief Operator: Tom Chance, K9XV - ..EMAIL k9xv@arrl.net · Dir. at large: Jim Rinehart, K9RU - · Dir. at large: Bob Osterhous, W9PSE - ..EMAIL rosterhous@iquest.net · Dir. at large: Bob Begeman, W9KVK - ..EMAIL w9kvk@juno.com · W9JP Trustee: Don Hemenover, N9DOO – EMAIL don9doo@lightbound.com ?? ?? ?? ??